The Real GHOST of Lavender Town
by Raven's secret-keeper
Summary: The danger is real. And Jess will find that not all ghosts can be tamed. It came to me after hours of reading Pokemon creepypastas, legends, stories - I was especially inspired by the concept of Pokemon Creepy Black, and all the events surrounding Lavender Town. What better setting to spook a ghost trainer? { {{ These events occur outside A Work of Magic continuity/oneshot AU. }} }


_Mistress the Mismagius once said, in half wisdom and half assumption: "You can't kill a ghost."_

_But for all her intelligence, she can't be right all the time..._

* * *

"Is it just me, or does this place feel a little more... haunted, than it did before?"

"Mmmm, Mur... Murkrow?"

"Of course it's possible." The especially tingling prickle at the trainer's neck had to come from _somewhere._ And they were in the Lavender Tower, center of spiritual, emotional, and general graveyard-shift activity here in haunted little Lavender Town. This particular trainer was happy to wander the grounds dedicated to reminiscence and the fondest memories, offering a tearful visitor a soft hug of comfort when she could... and, of course, keeping an eye out for spirits and other ghostly inhabitants with her team: the alert and curious Murkrow perched on her outstretched arm, loyal Ninetales at her heels - and her own precious ghosts, a Misdreavus and a Mismagius each hovering loosely near her shoulders - her favorite type, the ones that lived on the boundary between Earthly physicality and ghost-spirit energies.

"Mur, krow?"

"Well... You know, this very same tower used to be occupied by a very angry, very vengeful spirit that refused to let ANYBODY into the tower. That wasn't too long ago - it just suddenly appeared one day... and once people found out what was wrong, and helped her, she vanished just as quickly. Spirits can be fickle. Just like you, Murky."

"Krrrr..." He huffed, but tugged her hair lightly in return before fluttering from her shoulder to perch on a very elaborate tombstone.

"Oh, that's ones so beautiful, I think maybe- ...Uhh."

She froze so suddenly, the Misdreavus bumped into her and looked up with a note of questioning.

But Jess was too busy pondering the strange sight to notice. Rather than the typical form of a Gastly or misty wandering Growlithe, or any of the other species whose forms echoed here, all she could make out was a foggy sort of static, and a face. But it was emanating plenty of ghostly energies.

"Hello?" Jess called. Any ghost that ever crossed her path had to learn the hard way: it took much more than a spooky illusion to frighten her.

But the ghost didn't respond.

"Can I help you?"

And still it stayed there, hovering... Staring. Not fleeing... Not reacting. Not moving onward in a search for the next life. Just... watching them... ...with an unnervingly still gaze, as silent as the grave...

Until the Mismagius suddenly cried out a warning and shot a blast of Psybeam its way.

The ghost vanished before it landed. But she remained alert, her expression sharp and accusing.

"Mistress?" Jess asked - her voice was muddled, feeling... confused, like she'd just suddenly snapped out of a trance, and she had to blink and shake her head to cast the feeling off. "Mistress, what's going on?"

But her ghost remained silent for a moment, staring after where the spirit had vanished... All she replied was a rather ominous, "We're not welcome here."

Jess blinked, following her gaze like it would offer any answers... but instead she shrugged. "Huh... I'm curious, I gotta admit... What if it was some kind of new species, and we're the first ones to-?"

"I don't like it."

Jess pursed her lips; Mistress didn't speak often, but when she did, it meant she was dead-serious and her opinion was always well considered. "Well... I guess, if it feels that unwelcoming... Even a trainer specializing in Ghosts has her limits."

And with that they left it to its hauntings.

But on the way down the tower, the Mismagius was uncharacteristically alert, suspicious of every corner, and she alternated between Psybeams and whirling Magical Leaves, seemingly at every shadow that moved.

"Mistress?"

"That wasn't a normal spirit."

It seemed the strange ghost had put her typically-peaceful Mismagius on edge. But Mistress was private enough that she wouldn't want to talk about it. Especially not out here in public property... so Jess thanked her, before sighing and walking on.

They'd barely admired another three gravestones when the light of Psybeam erupted again.

"Another one?"

"They're everywhere."

"But aren't they always-?" But even as she spoke, she felt something bitter, cold and poignant infecting the air so strong she could taste it, like ozone... "Uhhm... Is something happening, or...?"

Mistress's eyes flickered from wall to wall. "The spirits here are getting restless."

"You think there's anything we can do to help them?"

"People... want to sleep when they die. Right? Do all spirits like to sleep?"

"I don't know. But maybe we should try finding out... What do you think? Should we try our own spiritual investigation? See what we can find out about these spirits?"

Immediately the Misdreavus squeaked out a note of protest. "Mis, misdrea, _drea!"_

She was quite clearly terrified of the idea, but they all knew how easily she'd be scared by the monster movies she'd seen, and it was ironically easy to scare her with ghost stories.

"We'll be alright, Missie. But if something is unsettling the ghosts trapped here, then something's probably happening that will affect the living, too! I think we should figure out what's going on. Maybe try _helping _ them..."

"Mur, mur-murkrow!"

"That's the spirit!" No pun intended. "Now that we've got Murky's curiosity going, he won't leave us alone until we find the answer anyways," she teased. "So. Ninetales?"

Her oldest Pokémon wasn't sure he liked this idea... but he took another moment to consider. He'd been with her for more than ten years, and he trusted her. She hadn't led them astray yet... He gave his silent vote with a nod.

Well, so much for caution... The Misdreavus whimpered, and from then on she stuck especially close to the Mismagius's side.

The natural area surrounding the central point of spiritual activity often led to clues about what was upsetting the delicate balances between Life and Death. So Jess led them to the wild water's-edge area just beyond the town.

For her limited human senses, Jess knew it would be easier to process the fainter, more subtle effects rippling out from the tower here. Water conducted spiritual energy well. And for her Pokémon, it was easier to focus on one thing than to try processing everything at once.

But to be on the safe side, she made sure nobody strayed too far, and had Ninetales maintain a small Will-o-Wisp through their travels.

They spent all night exploring the shores, Jess trying her best, most focused hand at detecting what felt so strange about the energies here... "It's so different from Eterna," she noted quietly. "But I can't figure out why it feels so WRONG. Just... Something kind of powerful... maybe _dark_ is happening..."

That was when they heard the scream.

Missie shrieked and dove right into Jess's arms, and everyone else had frozen in place, all heads but Missie's turned back towards Lavender Town.

"It's okay," the trainer soothed -perhaps a bit too quickly; somehow the screams put even her strong constitution on edge. "People are probably just- just, playing Halloween pranks on each other."

...though later that night, they all heard a very, VERY strange sort of moaning sound in the wind...

Now even more intrigued, and more determined to help solve this strange mystery, Jess kept her team very, very close, and repeatedly consulted Mistress if she noticed anything new (who repeatedly shook her head), asking Murky if he'd seen anything from his perch above their heads, asking Ninetales to keep his ears especially alert for any approaching sounds...

But soon dawn was the only thing approaching them.

And the nocturnal team made their unsettled, but exhausted, way towards the Pokémon Center, more than eager for the comfort of a nice warm bed... But when they arrived:

_"-Gasp!"_

Jess stopped and a hand jumped to her mouth; Mistress went rigid and Missie huddled against her with a whimper, and the Murkrow let out a breath of shock and Ninetales crouched low to the ground with an uncharacteristic bark, as if warning whoever did this to leave if they weren't already gone.

What met their eyes was no comfort, nothing warm and healing and safe.

This Pokécenter had been turned into a murder scene!

At least... that's what it looked like. The- the family on the ground, a mother, and father, and two children... The amount of blood coagulating around them and seeping into the cream carpet, and splattering the counter in violent bursts behind them... A slow, agonized sweep of the whole room revealed the Nurse had been stricken too, reddish-brown blood marring her now-tangled mess of hair. And she stared, face-up, empty eyes unseeing, towards the ceiling, with her mouth open as if she had died screaming. But the strangest thing of all was the empty Pokeballs lying at each victim's waist... without a single Pokémon in sight.

"Guys?" Jess asked, still frozen in the threshold. "I think... I think we came to Lavender Town on the wrong night..."

Swallowing back the fear and reminding herself that somebody had to do something, she carefully stepped her way around the bodies, sat at the PC with the phone, and dialed the number for emergency contact... waiting...

Mistress stayed behind to murmur a prayer chant over each body, her version of last rites that these innocent people had obviously been denied...

Jess sighed, glancing over her shoulder to catch the Mismagius's saddened, questioning eyes, and gave her a reassuring nod. "Good girl, Mistress..." And she turned back to the screen, wondering how long it usually took one of the local Jenny's to pick up. But the phone at her ear offered only static, and not even a dialing tone.

So she tried again, pressing the keypad harder in case the old phone didn't register her light touch...

No results. But the static sounded louder, and now it was picking up a... sort of cadence? A low, and pulsing, discomforting sort of cadence. Like the computer suddenly had a pulse.

Brow furrowing and finger to chin, Jess held the phone to her ear and glanced around, checking the handheld piece's connection to the machine, the screen keypad's connection, then ducked down to check the line...

Suddenly the screen lit to life. Only eyes and a face showed as barely-decipherable whiter patches in the grainy black and white static - but Jess was too busy inspecting the phone line plugged into the wall to see it.

But she still had the earpiece.

And when a sound like slow, labored breathing formed from the static, she called, "Hello? Hello, is there anybody there? We have an emergency here, and... ...we..."

But her voice hesitated to a stop. It sounded, like... words were coming through. But they were distorted... slower than they should be...

_The spirit activity here must be messing with the machines_, she thought, rationalizing-

"-ddddoooon't-... ...we...fear- saaaaaaaaaaa... ...uuuusssssssss..."

Wait, was someone on the other line?! The words kept fizzling in and out there was too much static (really rising in volume now) to hear. She sat up, slowly... pressing it closer to her ear to see if she could make out the-

_"LEAVE!"_

Jess dropped the phone with a gasp and jumped back -then blinked her wide eyes, quickly shook her head; what was she doing?! She was a trainer of ghost Pokémon, spiritualist-and-psychic-in-training who had no right to be spooked by a few creepy sounds!

She was a detective and protector of Pokémon, spirits and Earthly alike.

And she decided then and there that she wasn't leaving this town until the whatever happened here was stopped; until whoever had done this was brought to justice.

She set the dangling phone piece back in its cradle, wondered why the screen went from static to black as she did so, also deciding the phone was malfunctioning... and called her Pokémon to her side.

"Something serious is happening here, and if we can't even get in contact with the local police, we have to find someone who can help. It must be some sort of... robbery, or... ...you know... A murderer. Gah, I guess this is why my parents always told me to keep a Pokégear on hand..."

They wandered the fog-steeped streets until they found the police station, but even after several rounds of knocking, assistance-buzzer ringing, tapping at windows and calling out, nobody came to meet them.

"Oooo... ...kay?"

Jess shook her head, wondering who thought it was a good idea to give the entire precinct a day off... And despite their exhaustion, she led them back onto the streets. "Somebody around here has to have a phone..."

They tried knocking on every door they came to (which really wasn't many in such a small town), but even the local Pokémart was closed, and yet again nobody came to meet them.

Jess was babbling by now to distract herself from the fear starting to simmer inside her. "Maybe we can call into the next region. Heck, I'll call my family in Celestic and get them to transfer the message if I have to... Those people probably had family, and Pokémon that should know..."

...but... Why weren't there any people here? Last night the tower had been full of people hoping their Pokémon could hear them across the thinning veil. But now it was about 10 in the morning - people should be waking up by now, going about their daily business... and yet, they didn't meet a single soul.

"Did everyone leave-? Maybe that's why, we were the last to find out about the murder... Though I never thought the people of Lavender Town would be so easily scared away by weird things happening. They're famous for ghost sightings, for goodness sake!" Jess sighed. "Then again? I guess there's a difference between the weirdness you're used to, and a brand new kind of DANGEROUS weird... You don't hear about many murderers coming from such a small haunted town."

Trying to lighten the mood, she added, "Besides, you'd have to be crazy to murder people in a place where they'll probably just come back to haunt you."

Well, whatever was happening, there had to be _one_ person they could trust to remain: surely Mr. Fuji wouldn't leave his beloved Pokémon House!

So they stopped by for a visit, and it only took one brief reminder that they'd been there before for him to recognize them from the first time.

"Ah, yes... Jess and her team of volunteers."

But he seemed... much less enthusiastic, and expressive, than usual... At least, as far as Jess remembered. "Are you tired too, Mr. Fuji?"

"Very," was his only response as he led them in.

"Oh, I'm sorry to trouble you, then... Us too. We were up all night... trying... to..." A yawn cut her off, and she had to ask: "I'm sorry, I'm too tired to think... Would you mind if we rested here for a bit? Something strange is happening, and we want to find out why... but, ohgosh, we need to sleep..."

His response was an empty-feeling, "You can stay."

And rest they did.

And in exchange for his hospitality, they offered to help him around the House again, just like last time.

But even this once loving and sincere place had changed. The Pokemon that had looked so happy last year now seemed so... listless. Tired, and drained... barely moving, and their cries were low and haunting, keening sounds that sent a shiver down Jess's spine.

Mistress spent her time sadly looking into their eyes... trying to mutter a few chants for them to feel better. But they never seemed to respond. So empty, so hopeless... It made her feel so empty and hopeless herself.

It wasn't long before Jess saw her seeming to wilt in the air. "Mistress... Are you okay?"

"...Mmm... ...Mis..."

"I know what you mean. Something about them just seems so... WRONG. The other volunteers seem to have disappeared, too... How strange. Mr. Fuji?"

He didn't seem to hear her.

"Mister Fuji..." She went up to tap his shoulder-

He turned to her with eyes so deep black she stumbled back a step, her own eyes wide with shock.

"Something wrong?" he asked her kindly enough.

And when she blinked, his tired old eyes were back to their normal selves. "Uh... N- No, I think... my mind's playing tricks on me. ...Maybe there IS such thing as too many ghosts..."

"The people here... like to wander. Many come, just because... they feel so much like the spirits... and they feel less alone, just from being around so many other lonely souls."

Jess thought that was rather odd of him to say - Mr. Fuji had always seemed like such an upbeat guy, and for him to say such a weirdly depressing thing was, well... just plain WEIRD.

"Since you're here... I think I'd like to visit them. Just for a bit..."

Oh, Jess didn't like that idea at ALL! "You did hear the strange noises, and screams, and you CAN still see all the fog out there, right?"

"I can hear it calling. Yes..."

"You... You don't seem to be thinking very clearly. And I think there might be something dangerous out there. When we went to the Pokémon center, there were- bodies. Blood everywhere, I-I... I'm not even sure it's SAFE out there. Are you sure you want to go alone...?"

"Yes... Thank you for your concern, Jess. But I think I'll be fine."

Jess had one of those feelings again, nudging her to stop him, telling her she should definitely not let him go into that deep fog alone...

But he was already wandering on his way out. And then he muttered the strangest thing of all.

"I'll be with the Pokemon soon..."

...Weren't there so many more Pokemon here, in his rescue center?

Unless he meant... the Pokémon in Lavender Tower.

Jess tried to shake that thought, but it clung to her like a magnet, intuitive and warning-bells subtly going off every time she hoped he'd be okay. Her nerves only grew the longer he remained absent...

Had he just named her his successor? There was no way to really be sure! And so, with nothing else to do and no desire to hunt down a man in fog so deep they could barely see the road before them, Jess tried to distract herself by caring for the lifeless Pokémon he'd left behind.

By the time evening fell, Mistress's voice was so scratchy from trying to chant some happiness into them that she could barely breath without rasping, and Missie had fallen into a sympathetic silence. Ninetales had taken to spending most of his time with a baby Vulpix young enough that she still spent a lot of her time sleeping, and she never quite seemed warm enough... like the fire within her had almost gone out. He was worried enough that he curled all the way around her tiny form and blanketed her in his tails.

"Muuur, Murkrow?"

The bird didn't make many friends. And for him to worry without seeing proof that it was needed... Jess sighed. If he wanted to try finding Mr. Fuji, there was nothing she could say or do to stop him. He was too stubbornly determined...

But he knew his worrisome trainer well enough that he already dove into a stream of reassurance. Eterna Forest was often dark and fogged over plenty of times before, he reminded her. He'd flown in the pitch blackness of Mt. Silver and come out just fine! He grew up in the forever-night of Eterna Forest, and he liked it better when the world was darkest anyways.

Jess bit her lip, seeing the truth in his words... and she sighed, sending up a silent prayer for protection over him to whatever gods were listening. Assuming they listened to people wandering murder-scenes in haunted, maybe _cursed_, little Lavender Town. "Just be careful, okay? Call if you need us. We all know you have a big enough mouth..."

And for some reason she felt the need to hug him before he set off. He seemed confused, but he let her, and even preened her hair a bit before she pulled away. And then she opened the door, and he flew out into the night, vanishing from sight far too quickly...

Jess kept the windows open so they could hear his call, but the fog creeping into the house from the doorway unnerved her so much she had to close it.

He still hadn't returned home by sunrise.

"Murky?" she called out the window.

But all she heard, was... the Pokémon shuffling behind her... and outside, it was deathly silent. "Murky! Murkrow, can you hear me?"

Still, empty silence.

He'd gone missing before... If a local bird challenged him to a fight, Murky wouldn't come back until he'd won. He was too proud. He wouldn't come home from a failed mission, either. And he was curious - he'd investigate if something caught his eye, or he caught any leads in their newest mystery... He was smart, too. He wouldn't go farther than the waters ringing the city... Would he? In fact, he'd probably turn back if he went farther than the fog.

Jess told herself these things many times throughout the day. She was trying very hard not to worry...

But when she prepared dinner that evening, Ninetales didn't pad calmly into the kitchen behind the other Pokémon. And he wasn't wrapped around his adopted Vulpix.

"Ninetales?"

The dread already clouding her thoughts thickened the longer she searched, checking in every room and corner and closet and cranny, with the help of her remaining Pokémon, until they'd been searching for five hours and the house was darkened by nightfall.

By then her heart felt as heavy and clouded as the fog. "Ninetales..."

It as only out of pure desperation that she pulled the Pokéball from her bag, and called out her Pidgeot. He emerged with his wing in a splint - he'd been injured a few weeks ago, and while the wing was mostly healed, it was still stiff and bothered him a bit to fly...

"I'm so sorry to ask you this, Excalibur. I know your wing's still healing. But Murky and Ninetales are both missing, we don't know where Mr. Fuji went, and your eyesight is so much better than Murky's... I know it hurts you to fly. But do you think you can go out there and look? I don't think we can follow you, and there might be a murder out there! Humans can't fly to safety in a tree... and you fly so quickly... Can you try to find them? Please, Excalibur... I think you're our only chance..."

The bird tilted his head, and cooed a note of sympathy. He didn't know much about this area at all; he'd been here when they volunteered before, but he'd never left the Pokémon House. But he could see how concerned and frightened his partner was. So he hop-skipped over, nuzzled her cheek, and purred a promise to do his best.

She removed the splint so he could stretch his wings, and he almost seemed happy to be in the sky again...

Jess's worry was suffocating.

And the worry swiftly soured to guilt when yet another night passed, and yet another Pokémon didn't return. Jess found herself frantic with worry; the racing thoughts couldn't be stopped:

_Team Rocket was here before, and they're still very active in the Kanto region. What if they found them? Excalibur might have had to stop and rest... ...and gotten lost, or he might have hit something in the fog..._

Another desperate day, spent fitfully napping by the window while her ghosts kept guard, and when evening came again, and her friends were still somewhere in the fog, Jess's aching legs finally convinced her to stop pacing relentlessly.

"What was I thinking?" she growled, sitting under the window on her knees, hands clasped into trembling fists of self-fury. "Who knows what's happening out there? Who knows what's happening to THEM?!"

There were only two of her beloved Pokémon still with her, and it was all her fault! "If I hadn't sent them out..." The trembles finally overtook her voice. And between feeling trapped and terrified for every Pokémon in the house, the tension in her throat wouldn't let her speak another word. She simply bowed her head.

The Mismagius swept under, her billowing body brushing the ground as she hovered right in her trainer's line of sight, looking up into her eyes. "Mis..."

Jess only blinked listlessly.

"Mis... Mis, misma..."

"...Hoping is really hard, when you're less than a block away from a murder scene, and with all this fog..."

"Magi..." The ghost sighed. Then she lifted herself a bit, rested a tendril on her trainer's hands... and then she closed her eyes, and began chanting with all her heart.

A Mismagius's voice had power. And Jess closed her eyes to listen to the ethereal song... But when Mistress stopped there was no feeling of uplifting or contentment, and the ghost was looking out the window uneasily.

Not even Mistress's signature Lucky Chant could help them now. Probably because it was already too late.

"I should have gone with them. We never should have split up... Oh, Missie, you were so right - we shouldn't have gotten involved!"

But when she glanced over ready to apologize, the Misdreavus wasn't listening.

She was glancing, frantic... over her shoulders, and she muttered a sort of squeak before she hovered- halted, seemed dazed, and then yelped and bolted to the opposite corner of the room. Panting... her big eyes wider than ever, and unfocused and unnaturally still. "Mis, mis..."

She obviously wasn't talking to them. But Mistress glanced at Jess, right as Jess stood to talk to her.

"Hey, Missie... Are you alright?"

Missie seemed to be... RUNNING from something. She kept bolting across the room, faster and faster in turn, until... Jess grabbed her from the air, and she squirmed so much Jess ended up holding tight -

Missie Screeched and then bit her hand and her trainer released her, with a gasp of shock and more hurt confusion than pain.

"Missie..."

She looked to Mistress desperately, hoping she'd understand... But Mistress was busy staring very deeply into the corner behind them, her eyes narrowed, and her posture intent.

Jess checked her hand - Misdreavus didn't have very sharp teeth at all. But this Misdreavus had always been so gentle, so timid; she'd NEVER bitten anyone before... "Missie, why...?"

Th ghost just stood there, back to the trainer, her back to the wall... hovering still, frozen, like the fog had become a part of her...

She suddenly wailed like Jess had never heard her wail before, a miserable, and heartbroken, hopeless, desolate cry.

And then she bolted for the window.

"Missie!"

Jess and Mistress ran after their friend - Mistress streamed past her as Jess clambered out the window, and suddenly the fog outside swallowed her, too.

"No, no, no- Missie! Mistress, can you hear me?!" She'd already lost so many friends; she couldn't lose her ghostly friends, too! Even if it WAS Lavender Town, and even if she thought they would be relatively safe here compared to everyone else. Safe or not, she couldn't lose them forever!

"Mistress...?"

Suddenly the world seemed deathly quiet. "Missie, are you okay?"

She had to listen, hard... and silence her breathing. But then she heard the quiet mumbling:

"M- ma, ma... m-m-mi, mis- Misma..."

Mistress's voice! And Jess ran to her, following the sounds... Soon she could see her pink-tipped body hovering against the darkness.

"Mistress," she sighed with deep panicked relief; she was almost at her side! "I-I thought I'd lost you, and-"

Then she froze, right where she was standing. As soon as Mistress was in her sights, hunched over something dark and gray on the ground, and red, and-

Red?! That wasn't her necklace-pearls the moonlight glistened from - thin, dark blood was dripping down the side of the limpid Misdreavus's head, her half-closed eyes were glazed, above a mouth half-open and unmoving without a single response to her friend's cries - and her pearls were askew in a way that could only indicate a broken neck.

Jess kneeled to her side and stared, mouth agape in disbelief and horror - then looked up, tremors overtaking her hand as she felt out... and touched the smooth stone wall of Lavender Tower. "...No..."

"M- Magi," Mistress muttered. Her voice was unsteady and already so mourning, shocked - her best friend, her adopted little sister... "Mis-mis, mismagi..."

"I dunno... Oh no, Missie- Missie, hang on sweetie, please don't go yet, please, _please..."_

Jess picked her up, carefully, trying to jostle her already-too-limp neck as little as possible. And Mistress followed obediently. Even though the Mismagius knew there was nothing the trainer could do.

Lavender Town was simple. There weren't many streets, hardly any obstacles beyond a stray stone in the path, and following the purple road through the fog wasn't a problem. But it was dark. So dark... And though the little Midreavus's _(lifeless)_ body was a mere two pounds in her arms _(no not lifeless it couldn't be, it couldn't be)_, Jess's heart felt so heavy her feet dragged the whole way. The sorrow of this place finally infected her. Finally, finally beat her... and she didn't bother trying to stop the tears brimming at her eyes.

Images played through her mind, so vividly imagined they almost seemed real. Missie had to have hit the tower. Why did she run like that? Her scream- the bite, so wrong, not Missie, it couldn't be... Had she flown into the tower on purpose? Why else wouldn't she have seen it or gone intangible?

They were hardly halfway there when the world seemed to darken around them.

"Mistress?" Jess asked empty-heartedly. The ghost had a way of using her hallucination powers to express herself, and if she was grieving... But Mistress shook her head like a single jerk and stared straight ahead, rigid and alert and eyes wide and staring straight.

Silence enveloped the world.

Before a low, ghostly, keening miserable moan filled the air, the world screeched-

And Jess fell down, unconscious.

Or worse.

...

_Dead?!_

"Maaaaa!" The ghost soared beside her and nudged her head, pulled at her hand, called for her over and over and over until-

A shadow in the fog appeared, smiling over them. And when Mistress looked up, instinct and rage filled her at recognition: the same foggy undefined form they'd met three days ago, showing only eyes and a mouth far too gleeful for its guilt, watching her trainer like prey.

"YOU!"

The ghost only stared...

"Get away!"

Horrible ghostly light now wreathed the creature and it charged towards the trainer-

Then rammed into Mistress as she blocked its hit, and it soared back to regather momentum, staring her down and smiling on.

Mistress growled, refusing to leave her trainer's side. "Why are you doing this?"

No answer.

"Leave their spirits alone!"

No response. It began charging up again, but Mistress fired a fury-charged iridescent stream of the most powerful Psybeam she could - which didn't disperse the form, but preventing it from getting any closer.

"This isn't what spirits are for!"

But then the world was darkening again, and she snarled a ghost-to-ghost warning before summoning a whirlwind of Magical Leaf and sent it to smother the other ghost until it surrendered and fled back to the Tower. But no matter how she tried charging it off, the creature wouldn't leave them alone!

And finally it blasted the energies of Curse-

Mistress swept in to intercept. She'd fought enough ghosts in her life from training and territorial disputes in the wild to know what to expect, and Jess told her many times that she was better at defending than attacking.

But when the Curse hit, it was like nothing before! Like Dark Pulse and Thunderbolt and Spatial Rend all at once, and all she could do was let out a shrill cry of agony - just a moment of pain, as her spirit-energies were rent from her body, the pearls on her chest shattered like glass, releasing vital life-energies to the air.

And for Mistress, the world went black.

Like an inverted shadow, the watchful wavering ghost of Jess stood behind her fallen lifeless body, staring into the darkness... panting, reeling. Trying not to go insane as her spirit struggled to comprehend...

But she stood there, gazing deep into the abyss... as white figures formed from the mist, lumbering, limping... like injured creatures, closer. And closer. And closer.

Until words formed from the moaning echoes in the wind.

**"Only a ghost can kill another ghost."**

Then his white hands struck her neck, and her immortal soul was bound.

* * *

_So remember what your grandmother told you. Don't step outside when the wind is moaning and the ghosts are out to play._

_And don't linger too long in Lavender Town. Or else you'll end up just like Jess._

_Anguished. Alone. And trapped in a cycle of forever crying out for lost friends, doomed to an eternity of separation. Everyone The Ghost takes is a hostage. Forever, and ever, and ever..._


End file.
